Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1887-02-12
KIN Il
Solomon 5 Mines.
BY h. RIDER HAGGARD.

mlnK we ATE ABOUT SIX eaCn DeT0r0 We
had done, and, poor fruit as they are,
doubt If / ever thought anything nicer.
But melons are not satisfying, and when
we had satisfied our thirst with their pulpy
substance, and set stock to cool by the sim
pie process Of cutting them in two and set.
ting them end on In the hot sun to get cold
by evaporation we began to feel exceeding.
ly hungry. We had still some biltong left
but our stOmachS turned from biltong. and
besides we had to be very sparing of it, for
we could not say when we should get more
food. Just at this moment lucky thing
happened. Looking toward the desert |
saw flock of about ten large birds flying
straight toward us.
''Skit Baas, sktT' Shoot master, shoot).
whispered the Hottentot, throwing himself
on his face, an example which we all fol-
lowed.
Then saw that the birds were flock Of
paw (bustards) and that they would pass
within fifty yards of my head. Taking one
of the repeating WincheSters l waited till
they were nearly over us, and then jumped
on to my feet On seeing me the pauw
punched together, as expected they would,
and | fired two shots straight into the thick
of them, and as luck would have it, brought
one down, fine fellow, that weighed about
twenty pounds. In half an hour we had q
IRE made of dry melon stalks, and he was
tOaSting over 1t, and we had such feed as
we had not had for a week. We ate that
pauw; nothing was left of him but his bones
and his beak, and felt not little the better
afterward.
That night we again went on with the
moon, carrying as many melons as we could
with us. AS we got higher up we found the
air getting cooler and cooler, which was .
great relief to US, and at dawn, so far as we
could judge, were not more than about
dozen miles from the snow-line. Here we
found more melons, so had no longer any
anxiety about water, for we knew that we
should soon get plenty of snow. But the
ascent had now become very precipitous,
and we made but slow progress, not moro
than mile an hour Also that night we ate
our last morsel of biltong As yet with the
exception of the pauw, we had seen no liv-
ing thing on the mountain, nor had we come
across single spring or stream Of water,
which struck US very odd, considering all the
snow above US, which must, we thought,
melt sometimes. But as we afterward dis
covered, owing to some cause, which it is
quite beyond my power to explain, all
the streams flowed down upon the north side
of the mountains.
We now began to grow very anxious about
food. We had escaped death by thirst but
it seemed probable that it was only to die of
hunger. The events of the next three miser-
able days are best described by copying the
entries made at the time in my notebook.
21St May.-Started 13 A. NJ, finding the
atmosphere quite cold enough to travel by
day, carrying some water-mel0ns with us.
Struggled all day, but saw no more melons,
having, evidently, passed out of their Dis
trict. Saw no game of any sort. Hated for
the night at sundown, having h.. no food
for many hours. Suffered much during the
night from cold.
22d.-Started at sunrise again, feeling very
faint and weak. Only made five miles to-
day; found some patches of snow, of which
we ate, but nothing else. Camped at night
under the edge of great plateau. Cold bit
ter. Drank little brandy each, and hud-
died ourselves together, each wrapped up in
our blanket to keep ourselves alive. Are
now suffering frightfully from starvation
and WEAKNESS. Thought that Ventyogel
would have died during the night.
2Sd.-Struggled forward once more as soon
as the sun was well up and had thawed our
limbs a little. We are now in dreadful
plight, and l fear that unless we get food
this will be our last days journey. But little
brandy left Good, Sir Henry, and Umbopa
bear up wonderfully, but Ventvogel is in a
very bad way. Like most Hottentots, he
cannot stand cold. Pangs Of hunger not so
bad, but have sort of numb feeling about
the stomach. Others say the same. We are
now on a level with the precipitous chain, or
wall of lava, connecting the two breasts, and
the view is glorious. Behind us the great
glowing desert rolls away to the horizon,
and before us lies mile upon mile of smooth
hard snow almost level, but swelling gently
upward, out of the center of which the nip
pie of the mountain, which appears to be
some miles in circumference, rises about four
feet in the sky. Not living thing
is to be seen. God help us, | fear our time
has come.
And now / will drop the journal, partly !
because it is not very interesting reading and |
partly because what follows requires per-
haps rather accurate telling.
All that day (the 23i May) we struggled |
on up the incline of snow, lying down from |
time to time to rest A strange, gaunt crew /
we must have looked, as, laden we were,
we dragged our weary feet over the dazzling
plain, glaring round us with hungry eyes. !
Not that there was much use in glarng,
for there was nothing to eat We did not do
more than seven miles that day. Just before /
sunset we found ourselves right under the /
nipple of Sheba's left breast which lowered |
Up thousand of feet into the air above us, a
vast, smooth hilIock of frozen snow. Bad as
we felt we could not but appreciate the won
lerful scene, made even more wonderful by /
,he flying rays of light from the setting sun,
which here and there stained the snow blood
ed, and crowned the towering mass above
is with diadem of glory.
81 say" gasped Good, presently, 1--WE
,ught to be somewhere near the cave the old
Gentleman wrote about.
''Yes," said /, '.if there is a cave"
"Come, Quatermain,' groaned Sir Henry,
don't talk like that; l have every faith in
he don; remember the water. We shall find
he place soon.
IF we don't find ii before dark we are